With a victory within reach and his eighth-inning man struggling, Scioscia once again summoned Frieri for a multi-inning save, and Frieri once again delivered.

“It’s a luxury, but not one you can dip into very often,” Scioscia said after Frieri recorded his first six-out save in the Angels’ 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Sunday. “It’s definitely a card you can’t play very often, but we had it today and we needed it.”

Frieri prides himself on his conditioning and ability to stay fresh, even this deep into a season. He doesn’t seem to have a problem sitting down and getting back up in the middle of an outing, which is unfamiliar to many closers accustomed to no more than three outs.

Frieri has a major league-leading seven saves of more than three outs this season. That’s the most for any Angels closer since Francisco Rodriguez also had seven in 2004.

This one came just three days after Frieri needed 35 pitches to get through the ninth in Toronto. He’d been off the two days in between – thanks to an insurance run in the top of the ninth that padded the lead to four on Saturday – and he told Angels bullpen coach Steve Soliz that he was feeling good.

Dane De La Rosa, on the other hand, was pitching for the fourth time in five days, and when he started the eighth it quickly became apparent to Scioscia that “it didn’t look like Dane had it.” De La Rosa gave up a hit and a walk to the first two batters, so Frieri came trotting in to look for his first six-out save.

The Astros gave him the first out with a sacrifice, but that moved the tying and go-ahead runs to second and third. Frieri then struck out Trevor Crowe and Brett Wallace. In the ninth, Frieri fought Matt Dominguez through a 12-pitch at-bat before Dominguez singled.

Frieri then struck out Chris Carter, got Marc Krauss to foul out and struck out Brandon Laird.

Frieri, who has thrown 85 pitches in three games in the past six days, joked about the workload: “Two more outings and I’m going to try to go five innings.”

DAILY TROUT NUMBERS

Mike Trout drew his 100th walk, becoming the first player in American League history to combine 100 walks with 70 extra-base hits and 30 stolen bases.

He is one of six players in major league history to have 100 walks in his age 21 season or younger. The others are Hall of Famers John McGraw, Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott, Ted Williams and Rickey Henderson.

Trout is also the first player in the majors since Chone Figgins in 2009 to have 100 walks, 100 runs and 30 stolen bases.

Trout’s bid for 200 hits has hit a snag, though. He went hitless in back-to-back games for the first time since Aug. 9-10. Trout has 181 hits, with 13 games to play.

NOTES

Chris Nelson could be ready to return to the Angels lineup any day, Scioscia said. It has been less than three weeks since he suffered a strained hamstring, an injury that sometimes takes months to heal. … Luis Jimenez, who has two sore shoulders from a home plate collision last weekend, is playing catch, but he’s still at least three or four days away from being able to play in the field. He could hit. … The Angels will add several players to the roster on Monday, now that all their minor league seasons are over. Triple-A Salt Lake lost the Pacific Coast League championship series in four games. Double-A Arkansas lost on Sunday in the decisive fifth game of the Texas League championship series. Class-A Inland Empire won the California League title on Saturday night.

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